An Otherwise Empty Bus is my most recent animated short. With this unconventional short film, I sought to explore literal confrontation of the self, as well as a deliberate manipulation of duration through repetition. The short also acts as a sort of love letter to the very act of working on a project like this; the most quintessential version of this story loops forever, much like the 3D viewport. In many ways, I see this project as a huge stepping off point as I continue to pursue independent narrative work.
The initial blocking of the short was done as part of an exercise under the guidance of my friend and artistic mentor, Gavin Gray Valentine. Gavin and I meet once a week to discuss my creative practice and output, and for a while there he had me knocking out 5 rough animations a week. All of them starring this character, Barry, my focus wasn’t crafting picture perfect films, but rather ironing out my relationship with own creative workflow and narrative voice. From that pile of surreal rough animations, we first chose An Otherwise Empty Bus for me to give the full creative treatment. Looking back on the initial blocking phase of this short feels a lot like comparing an oil painting to a doodle in the margins of a notebook, but I think its important to pull back the curtain and show the whole process.
Fun Fact: To distinguish between Barry and his mustachio’d counterpart as I worked on the short, I named the latter Claire. Where does Claire come from? When does a Barry become a Claire? How many pairs of novelty mustache glasses are littering the floor of that bus? I simply don’t have these answers.